Cream jar

ABSTRACT

A cream jar comprising an inner jar having an inner container for receiving a cream or a similar viscous fluid, an outer jar for receiving the inner jar, and a lid member, the lid member comprising a lid having a thread and a mating thread disposed on the inner jar and/or on the outer jar, the lid member being used to close the inner container of the inner jar, wherein the inner jar is replaceable, the inner jar and the outer jar forming a severable connection, said connection being a latching connection.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to German Patent Application no. 102019 126 132.5 filed Sep. 27, 2019, which application is incorporatedherein by reference in it's entirety.

The disclosure relates to a cream jar comprising an inner jar having aninner container for receiving a cream or a similar viscous fluid, anouter jar for receiving the inner jar, and a lid member, the lid membercomprising a lid having a thread and a mating thread disposed on theinner jar and/or on the outer jar, the lid member being used to closethe inner container of the inner jar.

Cream jars of the kind mentioned above are sufficiently known. Forinstance, WO 2007/045474 A1 and WO 2016/066529 A1 show cream jars havingan inner jar, an outer jar and a lid member. A cream or another viscousfluid is received by an inner container of the inner jar. The lid memberis connected to the outer jar via a screw top so that the innercontainer of the inner jar can be closed. The screw top is suitable forrepeatedly opening and closing the cream jar and thus for removing thecream or refilling the jar with the cream or another viscous fluid. Theouter jar, the inner jar and the lid member are additionallycharacterized by the fact that the individual components of the lidmember or the components of the outer jar and of the inner jar areconnected to each other not only in a form fitting manner but also in abonded manner, which creates a particularly stable and opticallypleasing design of the cream jar. The disadvantage is that thecomponents of the outer jar, of the inner jar and of the lid member arenot easily separated from each other once they have been put together toform a cream jar. Since the outer jar, the inner jar and the lid memberare often made of different materials, such as metal or plastics, creamjars according to the state of the art are not easy to recycle or toreuse because individual components of the cream jars cannot simply besevered from other components and be replaced.

Therefore, the object of the present disclosure is to propose a creamjar that is simple to produce while being more easily reused andrecycled.

To attain said object, the cream jar according to the disclosure has thefeatures of claim 1.

The cream jar according to the disclosure comprises an inner jar havingan inner container for receiving a cream or a similar viscous fluid, anouter jar for receiving the inner jar, and a lid member, the lid membercomprising a lid having a thread and a mating thread disposed on theinner jar and/or on the outer jar, the lid member being used to closethe inner container of the inner jar. The inner jar is replaceable, theinner jar and the outer jar forming a severable connection, saidconnection being a latching connection.

The cream jar according to the disclosure offers the advantage that theconnection formed between the inner jar and the outer jar is not abonded connection formed by gluing or welding, for example, but alatching connection which can be established and severed repeatedly. Bysevering the latching connection, the inner jar of the cream jar can beremoved and replaced with another inner jar, for example. This allowsthe outer jar to be reused by replacing the inner jar. If the outer jaris not going to be reused, the lid, the inner jar and the outer jar canbe easily separated by severing the screw connection and the latchingconnection when the cream jar is to be disposed of. If the lid, theinner jar and the outer jar are made of different materials, thesematerials can simply be separated and thus be recycled separately. Thelid and the outer jar can be made of metal, for example, in order toprovide the cream jar with a particularly pleasing optical design. Theinner jar, on the other hand, can be made of plastic, which makesproduction of the inner jar particularly simple and cost-efficient.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the inner jar has an axial edge webat a container opening, said axial edge web corresponding to an axialedge web formed on a container neck of the outer jar in such a mannerthat the axial edge web of the inner jar is in form-fitting contact withthe axial edge web of the outer jar when the latching connection isestablished. The establishment of the latching connection in an axialedge web of the outer jar and an axial edge web of the inner jar makesproduction of a cream jar with a latching connection particularlysimple.

Particularly advantageously, the axial edge webs of the inner jar and ofthe outer jar can be shaped inn such a manner that they are not visiblefrom outside when the cream jar is closed with the lid member.

Preferably, the latching connection is realized by a latching element onthe axial edge web of the inner jar and a corresponding mating latchingelement on the axial edge web of the outer jar. A connection between thelatching element and the mating latching element can be established bylightly pushing them against each other and can be severed by lightlypulling. This is easily done by a person. The latching element and themating latching element are simply introduced into or molded onto theaxial edge webs of the inner jar and the outer jar.

Advantageously, the mating latching element of the outer jar can be acorrugation. In this case, the mating latching element is of aparticularly simple design and is easily produced.

Furthermore, it is advantageous for the cream jar to have an axialanti-rotation means realized between the inner jar and the outer jar inat least one horizontal plane. The anti-rotation means counteractsrotating of the outer jar and the inner jar. This is particularlyadvantageous when a person wants to remove a cream or a viscous fluidfrom the inner container of the inner jar and strokes along the wall ofthe inner container, which can cause the inner jar to move with thefinger if there is no anti-rotation means.

It is advantageous if the anti-rotation means comprises a contour on theinner container of the inner jar and a corresponding mating contour onthe outer jar, the contour and the mating contour having a shape otherthan a circular shape. The shape other than the circular shape can beachieved by rounded portions, corners, polygons or other shapes. Whenthe contour and the mating contour establish a form fit, relativerotating of the inner jar and the outer jar is no longer possible.Advantageously, the form fit between the contour and the mating contouris established at the same time as the latching connection.

Advantageously, the contour of the anti-rotation means can be realizedon an outer wall of the inner container of the inner jar, an inner wallof the inner container having an essentially circular contour. Thecontour of the anti-rotation means is not visible to a person while saidperson removes a cream or a viscous fluid from the cream jar because thecontour is disposed on an outer wall of the inner jar and thus faces theinner side of the outer jar. The inner wall of the inner container has acircular contour which allows simple and residue-free removal of thecream from the inner container so that no cream residue remains incorners or bulges of the inner wall.

Advantageously, the mating contour of the anti-rotation means can beformed by a radial edge web of the outer jar disposed on the containerneck of the outer jar. Such a radial edge web of the outer jar is moldedon the axial edge web of the outer jar, thus protruding therefrom. Thismakes the mating contour of the anti-rotation means particularly simpleto produce because it can be die-cut or cut from a basic form of theouter jar. Additionally, a projecting edge strip in the shape of aradial edge web allows the mating contour to be produced in aparticularly material-saving way.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the axial edge web of the innercontainer forms the latching element of the latching connection and themating thread of the lid member on opposite sides, the latching elementbeing formed on an inner wall of the axial edge web and the matingthread being formed on an outer wall of the axial edge web. Theparticular advantage is that the axial edge web of the inner containerfulfills two functions, namely forming the latching connection andforming the mating thread. Since the latching element and the matingthread are formed on opposite walls, they can be realized and severedindependently of each other.

For example, the latching connection can be severed while the lid isclosed. Additionally, it is advantageous for the latching element andthe mating thread to be disposed on the same axial edge web because thisfacilitates material-saving production since no more than one structurehas to be molded in order to form the latching element and the matingthread.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the inner jar has a radial edge web,said radial edge web being disposed between the inner container and theaxial edge web of the inner jar, the radial edge web being in contactwith an inner wall of the lid when the inner container of the inner jaris closed with the lid member. This makes it possible for the innercontainer of the inner jar to be covered in a sealed manner withoutrequiring a separate seal in the cream jar. Moreover, the radial edgeweb can have any width, which allows a desired appearance or a desiredclosure of the inner container to be achieved.

Advantageously, the lid member can have an insert, which can be disposedon the inner wall of the lid and which can be in contact with the radialedge web of the inner jar when the inner container of the inner jar isclosed with the lid member. Using an insert in the lid of the lid memberis advantageous in particular in order to avoid cream residue or residueof the viscous fluid on the inside of the lid and to simplify reuse ofthe lid, if applicable. The insert forms an additional layer between thelid and the inner container, said layer being preferably made of plasticor a rubber material, making it easily washable.

An insert of such a material additionally offers improved sealingproperties, in particular when the lid and the inner container are madeof different materials, such as metal and plastic. The insert can bereplaceable, which simplifies cleaning of the insert and makes reuse ofthe lid member hygienic.

Advantageously, the insert of the lid member is connected to the innerwall of the lid in a form-fitting manner. This ensures that the insertcannot drop out of the lid. This is advantageous in particular whencream residue sticks to the insert and to the radial edge web of theinner jar, causing the insert to adhere to the radial edge web of theinner jar. The form-fitting connection between the insert and the innerwall of the lid prevents the insert from dropping out when the cream jaris opened by turning the thread and the mating thread.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the insert of the lid member has anedge which engages into a groove formed on the inner wall of the lid.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the outer jar has an opening at itsunderside, the opening of the outer jar allowing access to a surface atan underside of the inner jar from outside. First of all, such anopening of the outer jar at an underside leads to material being savedduring production of the outer jar. Since the opening is disposed at theunderside of the outer jar, it is not visible when the cream jar is setdown, the opening thus not affecting the optical appearance of the creamjar. The fact that a jar bottom of the inner jar is accessible fromoutside through the opening allows a person to reach the inner jar fromoutside and to exert pressure on it, for example, said pressure beingsuitable for severing the latching connection. Thus, the outer jar andthe inner jar can be separated particularly easily.

Advantageously, the opening of the outer jar can have a diameter whichcorresponds to at least a diameter of a human finger so that thelatching connection can be severed without tools simply by using afinger to exert pressure on the underside of the inner jar from outside.This allows the outer jar and the inner jar to be separated at anytimes.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the lid is a hollow body, which canbe composed of at least two connected lid elements. A lid of this kindmakes a solid impression, while it is produced in a particularlymaterial-saving way. This is advantageous if the lid is made of metal,for example. In this case, the lid, while maintaining its solidappearance, can be light and thus require particularly little materialfor production.

It is advantageous if the lid elements of the lid are bonded to eachother. The bonded connection allows a stable connection of the lidelements to be established in a lid whose lid elements are made of thesame material. When the lid elements are made of the same material, suchas the same metal, the lid consisting of at least two lid elements canstill be easily recycled.

Advantageously, the lid elements of the lid can be welded or gluedtogether.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the outer jar is a hollow body, saidhollow body being composed of at least two bonded outer jar elements,which are preferably a jar sleeve and a jar bottom. The bonded outer jarelements are preferably made of the same material, such as metal orplastic. Since the outer jar is a hollow body, little material is neededto produce the outer jar. Additionally, an outer jar made of outer jarelements consisting of the same metal is particularly easy to recycle.

It is advantageous for the outer jar elements of the outer jar to bewelded or glued together. Additionally, a larger variety of shapes ofthe outer jar can be achieved while a large amount of material is savedwhen outer jar elements of different shapes are used.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the disclosure will be explainedin more detail with the aid of drawings.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of a cream jar;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the cream jar illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 a, FIG. 3b are sectional views of the cream jar;

FIG. 4 a, FIG. 4b are more sectional views of the cream jar;

FIG. 5 is another sectional view of the cream jar.

FIG. 1 shows a closed cream jar 10, an outer jar 11 being closed with alid 12 (FIG. 2) of a lid member 13. An inner jar 14 (FIG. 2) held byouter jar 11 is not visible from outside in this state.

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of cream jar 10.Cream jar 10 has an outer jar 11 which is composed of a jar sleeve 15and a jar bottom 47. Moreover, outer jar 11 has a container neck 16 andan opening 18 disposed at an underside 17 of outer jar 11. Inner jar 14of cream jar 10 is realized in such a manner that it can be insertedinto outer jar 11. Inner jar 14 comprises an inner container 19 having acontainer opening 20 facing lid 12 of cream jar 10. Lid member 13 ofcream jar 10 comprises a lid 12 composed of two lid elements 21 and 48,and an insert 22. As shown in FIG. 3, lid member 13 has an internalthread 23 interacting with an external thread 24 on inner jar 14 toclose cream jar 10.

FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b show sectional views of cream jar 10, FIG. 3ashowing a vertical cross section through cream jar 10 and FIG. 3bshowing a horizontal cross section along a section plane shown in FIG. 3a. Inner jar 14 and outer jar 11 are connected by a latching connection25. Inner jar 14 has an axial edge web 26 at container opening 20, axialedge web 26 corresponding to an axial edge web 27 on container neck 16of outer jar 11. Latching connection 25 has a latching element 28 onaxial edge web 26 of inner jar 14 and a mating latching element 29 onaxial edge web 27 of outer jar 11, mating latching element 29 being acorrugation in the case at hand. Latching element 28 of latchingconnection 25 is realized as an annular web on an inner wall 30 of axialedge web 26 opposite external thread 23 of lid member 13 formed on anouter wall 31 of axial edge web 26.

Outer jar 11 forms opening 18 at underside 17, a bottom 32 of innercontainer 19 accommodated in inner jar 14 being accessible from outsidethrough said opening 18. A finger can be used to exert pressure onbottom 32 of inner jar 14 through opening 18 of outer jar 11 in order tosever the latching connection between inner jar 14 and outer jar 11 by aforce acting in the axial direction. Since lid member 13 and inner jar14 are in threaded engagement, latching connection 25 can be severedeven when a container opening 20 of inner jar 14 is closed with lidmember 13. As can further be seen, jar sleeve 15 of outer jar 11 formsan outer wall 33 and container neck 16 of outer jar 11.

As further shown in FIG. 3 a, insert 22 accommodated in lid member 13has an edge 36 which is insertable into a groove 37 formed on an innerwall 38 of lid 12. Insert 22 rests on a radial edge web 39 of inner jar14 when lid 12 is closed.

The selected sectional view along section line in FIG. 3b shows ananti-rotation means 40 of cream jar 10. Anti-rotation means 40 has acontour 41 on an outer wall 42 of inner container 19 of inner jar 14 anda mating contour 43 on a radial edge web 44 connected to axial edge web27 of outer jar 11. Contour 41 and mating contour 43 are in closecontact with each other and have a shape other than a circular shape. Inthe illustrated embodiment of cream jar 10, contour 41 has four convexbulges engaging into four concave recesses of mating contour 43. The aimis for axial rotating of inner jar 14 and outer jar 11 to be preventedonce contour 41 and mating contour 43 have been joined, which preferablyhappens during formation of the latching connection 25.

FIG. 4b shows a sectional view along a horizontal section plane IV-IVshown in FIG. 4a in such a manner that a hollow space 45 formed betweenouter wall 42 of inner container 19 of inner jar 14 and axial edge web27 of outer jar 11 becomes visible. Additionally, contour 41 of outerwall 42 of inner container 19 can already be formed at section positionY-Y. Unlike the outer wall of inner container 19, which is provided withcontour 41 having the shape other than a circular shape, an inner wall46 of inner container 19 has a circular contour, which facilitatesremoval of the cream or of the viscous fluid from cream jar 10.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of cream jar 10 according to section lineV-V in FIG. 4 a, additionally illustrating the anti-rotation meansformed between inner container 19 and outer jar 11 through theinteraction between contour 41 formed on inner jar 14 on outer wall 42of inner container 19 and mating contour 43 formed on radial edge web 44of outer jar 11.

REFERENCE SIGNS

10 cream jar 11 outer jar 12 lid 13 lid member 14 inner jar 15 jarsleeve 16 container neck 17 underside 18 opening 19 inner container 20container opening 21 lid element 22 insert 23 internal thread 24external thread 25 latching connection 26 axial edge web IT 27 axialedge web AT 28 latching element 29 mating latching element 30 inner wall26 31 outer wall 26 32 bottom 33 outer wall AT 34 inner wall AT 35 outerwall IT 36 edge 37 groove 38 inner wall of lid 39 radial edge web IT 40anti-rotation means 41 contour 42 outer wall of inner container IT 43mating contour 44 radial edge web AT 45 hollow space 46 interior ofinner container IT 47 jar bottom 48 lid element

1. A cream jar comprising an inner jar having an inner container forreceiving a cream or a similar viscous fluid, an outer jar for receivingthe inner jar, and a lid member, the lid member comprising a lid havinga thread and a mating thread disposed on the inner jar and/or on theouter jar, the lid member being used to close the inner container of theinner jar, wherein the inner jar is replaceable, the inner jar and theouter jar forming a severable connection, said connection being alatching connection.
 2. The cream jar according to claim 1, wherein theinner jar has an axial edge web at a container opening, said axial edgeweb corresponding to an axial edge web on a container neck of the outerjar in such a manner that the axial edge web of the inner jar is inform-fitting contact with the axial edge web of the outer jar when thelatching connection is established.
 3. The cream jar according to claim1, wherein the latching connection is established by a latching elementon the axial edge web of the inner jar and by a corresponding matinglatching element on the axial edge web of the outer jar.
 4. The creamjar according to claim 1, wherein the mating latching element of theouter jar is a corrugation.
 5. The cream jar according to claim 1,wherein the cream jar has an axial anti-rotation means realized betweenthe inner jar and the outer jar in at least one horizontal plane.
 6. Thecream jar according to claim 5, wherein the anti-rotation meanscomprises a contour on the inner container of the inner jar and acorresponding mating contour on the outer jar, the contour and themating contour having a shape other than a circular shape.
 7. The creamjar according to claim 5, wherein the contour of the anti-rotation meansis realized on an outer wall of the inner container of the inner jar, aninner wall of the inner container having an essentially circularcontour.
 8. The cream jar according to claim 5, wherein the matingcontour of the anti-rotation means is formed by a radial edge web of theouter jar disposed on a container neck of the outer jar.
 9. The creamjar according to claim 1, wherein the axial edge web of the innercontainer forms the latching element of the latching connection and themating thread of the lid member on opposite sides, the latching elementbeing formed on an inner wall of the axial edge web and the matingthread being formed on an outer wall of the axial edge web.
 10. Thecream jar according to claim 1, wherein the inner jar has a radial edgeweb, said radial edge web being disposed between the inner container andthe axial edge of the inner jar, the radial edge web being in contactwith an inner wall of the lid when the inner container of the inner jaris closed with the lid member.
 11. The cream jar according to claim 1,wherein the lid member has an insert, said insert being disposed on theinner wall of the lid, the insert being in contact with the radial edgeweb of the inner jar when the inner container of the inner jar is closedwith the lid member.
 12. The cream jar according to claim 11, whereinthe insert of the lid member is connected to the inner wall of the lidin a form-fitting manner.
 13. The cream jar according to claim 11wherein the insert of the lid member has an edge which engages into agroove of the inner wall of the lid.
 14. The cream jar according toclaim 1, wherein the outer jar has an opening at its underside, ajarbottom of the inner jar being accessible from outside through saidopening of the outer jar.
 15. The cream jar according to claim 14,wherein the opening of the outer jar has a diameter which corresponds toat least a diameter of a human finger.
 16. The cream jar according toclaim 1, wherein the lid is a hollow body, said hollow body beingcomposed of at least two connected lid elements.
 17. The cream jaraccording to claim 16, wherein the lid elements of the lid are bonded toeach other.
 18. The cream jar according to claim 16, wherein the lidelements of the lid are welded or glued together.
 19. The cream jaraccording to claim 1 wherein the outer jar is a hollow body, said hollowbody being composed of at least two bonded outer jar elements.
 20. Thecream jar according to claim 19, wherein the outer jar elements of theouter jar are welded or glued together.